Nickel-Electro, which makes the Clifton range of temperature-control equipment, is offering the Lab Armor range, designed to keep substances at a stable temperature wherever they are in the lab.
The core product in the range is the Bath Armor thermally efficient pellets, which are moisture and gas impermeable, with high thermal conductivity.
Designed for use in water baths and blockheaters, the beads are smooth and rounded in appearance, reduce water consumption and are easy to wash or sterilise.
With water baths, Bath Armor replaces the water in the bath itself and eliminates the need for racks, floaties or bottle weights.
It also eliminates water-borne contamination and protects the bath from drying out.
The beads make water baths more energy efficient.
Water constantly evaporates during water-bath operation, cooling as it does so.
This evaporative-cooling effect means the bath must heat more frequently, increasing energy consumption.
However, when using Bath Armor, a bath will use less than a quarter of the energy when it is set to 65C and less than half at 37C.
An additional benefit is that a bead bath provides a more constant temperature and there are fewer temperature fluctuations during operation.
When used with blockheaters, Bath Armor replaces pre-drilled blocks and is used to fill the heating well, suiting all tube sizes.
This is more convenient for the user as there are no blocks to switch out when incubating different sized tubes.
It also provides a more flexible working system, as it allows a variety of items - a bottle, a petri dish and a multi-well plate for example - to be incubated.
It also removes the need to buy blocks.
The Lab Armor Chill Bucket is an ice bucket that works without ice.
It chills while keeping the contents dry, without risk or contamination from wet ice.
The Chill Bucket effectively eliminates the risk of melted ice, puddles, floating tubs and wet or contaminated samples.
The Chill Bucket is simple to use - the Bead Bag and Chill Bags just need to be cooled in a refrigerator or freezer from 4C to -20C.
It will then deliver up to eight hours of constant cooling on two ice packs or with a handful of dry ice pellets.
Every Chill Bucket Kit includes a durable polyurethane laboratory bucket and lid, two gel packs and a mesh sack containing 1.5 litres of metallic thermal beads.
The Lab Armor Walkabout Scoop Tray has proven insulative properties, keeping samples and reagents at a constant temperature when they are moved around.
At just a quarter the size of a traditional lab bucket, the Walkabout Scoop Tray incubator can be carried around and can help reduce temperature fluctuations in air-filled lab equipment.
